IN A rare occurrence, the Student Judicial Court (SJC) voted 5-1 to impeach Ateneo Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chief Commissioner Jon Andre Vergara for “gross negligence” after a trial held last August 26.

Vergara was charged with two instances of failure to fulfill his duties during the last freshman and special elections, in an impeachment complaint filed against him last August 22.

The complaint was lodged by SJC prosecutors Sammy Chua, Kyle Dy Tan and Abigail Uy, as part of the court’s supervisory obligations over the poll body. The evidence to support the complaints were gathered through the SJC’s Prosecutor’s Watch initiative.

In a verdict released last September 1, the SJC said that Vergara had indeed failed to sufficiently discharge his duties.

The verdict also named Margaux Tan as the new Chief Commissioner.

“Gross negligence”

The formal impeachment complaint cited two instances of Vergara’s alleged irresponsibility. These were the “failure to prepare and set-up materials for voting centers” and the “failure to facilitate the logistical need of the election leading to the delayed opening of voting centers by 9:30 AM.”

The court, however, ruled that Vergara cannot be found solely and exclusively at fault with the first charge, as it also involved a third party which contributed to the failure.

Part of the set-up for the voting centers included equipment from Neo Manufacturing and Services Inc. (NEO). The laptops provided were found to have defective batteries that needed extension cords, prompting delays in two of five voting centers.

“Extension cords connecting LAN cables to the servers and database were necessary for the votes received to be tallied as valid,” Tan, then Comelec Commissioner, said.

In its decision, the court said that the failure was shared by the entire board of commissioners, who crafted the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Comelec and NEO.

Meanwhile, the second charge against Vergara was about his absence during the pre-election preparations last August 3.

Two out of the five stations needed extension cords, and thus failed to open at 9:30 AM. Although Vergara had left an associate commissioner to take charge, Vergara himself was only able to attend to the matter at 11:30 AM.

Instead of addressing the problems after his 10:30 AM class, Vergara chose to attend his shift at the Department of Student Welfare and Services (DSWS).

“As both his responsibilities in Comelec and DSWS are extra-curricular endeavors, Commissioner Vergara should have given top priority to the delay, being an emergency situation, over a casual task in another organization,” the Court said.

Commissioners’ sides

Tan said she was initially surprised by the complaint, and said that clarification was the aim of the process.

“SJC and Comelec only wanted to show what had happened,” she said. Tan claimed that the charges were exaggerated and that she was misinterpreted.

“They asked me what happened and I said there were logistical problems. Maybe the SJC assumed that I was against [Vergara] when in fact I’m not taking sides,” she added.

She defended Vergara, saying that he presided at their meetings and that no one was to blame.

Commissioner Angeli Villaraza, however, thought that the impeachment was warranted.

“Actually, it’s still a necessity because he didn’t do the work he was supposed to do, [and it would make] no sense if he would [still] continue. It’s better late than never,” she said.

Both Tan and Villaraza had been mentioned in the complaint.

No ill feelings

Vergara had mixed feelings about his impeachment. “I wasn’t expecting [the impeachment], but I wasn’t surprised at the same time.”

He said he was accused of neglecting two of his six duties as chief commissioner, and that while he appreciated the SJC’s monitoring of Comelec, he said that the focus was on his department and only on important dates.

Vergara said that he has no ill feelings and added that he is willing to help Comelec as a regular commissioner. “I don’t know personally the prosecutors who filed the complaint, but I still have good relations with the SJC. I don’t hold anything against them.”

Standards

SJC Chief Magistrate Gerald Chua called the decision proper and fair, saying that the event sets an example.

“Mr. Vergara’s impeachment [should] give a wake-up call to other officers [reminding them] that they should be accountable for their actions.”

Chua added that the decision, which did not draw from any previous case, was a first step in sorting out the poll body’s issues.

Magistrate Efren Resurreccion agreed, saying that there is now a clear standard for being a commissioner whose priority should be the elections.

“This isn’t just an individual [duty] in their part, as it is their service to the Atenean public to ensure that students have the opportunity to participate in the school’s form of democracy,” he said.

“Comelec’s only two major activities are general elections and freshmen elections, so I don’t see why they couldn’t commit themselves entirely to the two,” said second year School of Social Sciences Executive Officer Kyla Javellana.

“They have to realize the urgency in handling these matters,” she said.